OCA Denounces Travel Ban 2.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates denounces the new travel ban placed by the Trump administration on several Muslim-majority countries.

On Monday, after being rebuked by a federal appeals court and enduring widespread protests nationwide, the Trump administration signed an executive order that slightly modified the original version that banned migration from seven Muslim-majority countries and shut down refugee migration completely. This new version takes Iraq off the list of banned countries and allows legal visa holders from affected countries to maintain their ability to travel. The new order will maintain a 120 day ban on refugees, and will more than halve the cap on the number of refugees accepted each year from 110,000 to 50,000.

“This may be a new executive order, but nothing has changed in the bad intentions of this anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, and anti-Muslim order,” said Vicki Shu, OCA’s Vice President of Public Affairs. “At its core, this order is a violation of the equal application of civil and human rights, and misinterprets our valid fears of terrorism with an irrational fear of refugees and persons from Muslim-majority countries. This new order will increase fear of other races, religions, and nationalities based on a flawed national security rationale, paralleling the logic used to exclude the Chinese in the late nineteenth century or incarcerate the Japanese during World War II. As with the previous order, we as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders refuse to accept a reality in which national origin or religion dictates the ability to migrate or exist in this country as a refugee or an immigrant. We will continue to protest against this discriminatory order and support legal efforts to stop this travel ban.”

OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national organization of community advocates dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs).